The present invention relates generally to multidimensional imaging using lenticular lenses, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for producing a multidimensional image having a special effect such as a "glow in the dark" feature, reflective qualities, fluorescent imaging, responsiveness to ultraviolet light, or similar special effect qualities.
Lithography is an old, well-known and well-practiced art. In its first life, lithographs were created by drawing on the surface of a limestone slab with an oily wash or greasy crayon. The surface was then washed with an acid such that the marked areas of the surfaces rejected water but retained ink. The stone was then set within a press and when brought in contact with paper, it printed the paper with the inked image. Within fifty years of its first development, metal plates began to replace the limestone slabs. Today, rotary presses have replaced flatbed presses, paper and plastic plates are in use, and the use of color inks commonplace.
As lithography grew in sophistication, so did its varied uses. Originally a technique of printing, with time it grew into a popular medium for artists. Where the first images were created by hand, today the images can be created by one or more of a wide variety of techniques, e.g., photographic, chemical etching, computer-controlled optical scanning and engraving, digital at, and the like. Modern day lithographs are ubiquitous in the print and advertising industries, as well as many others.
Historically lithographs were two dimensional creations like any other picture or photograph. Perception of depth was dependent upon the content of the picture itself. However as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,266,995 to Quadracci, et al., three dimensionality can be imparted to an image by first creating the image with a special stereoscopic camera and then overlaying the image with a lenticular lens sheet. Both the stereoscopic cameras and lenticular lens sheets are known in the art and are commercially available.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,113,223 to Sandor, et al. teaches a method of preparing three dimensional lithographs through the use and manipulation of computer images. In this technique, the images are interleaved into a predetermined number of planar images, and then printed with a high-resolution output imaging device on a spacer, and a selected edge of each interleaved image is aligned with a predetermined direction of the spacer.
Conventional imaging techniques such as lithography and screen printing have provided simple special effects such as reflective or transmission presentations. However, such special effects heretofore have not been available in connection with multidimensional images on lenticular lenses because of the complex nature of multidimensional imaging techniques and the process of arranging the multidimensional images on the lenticular lenses. Moreover, special effects have not been applied to desired portions of interlaced images to create an effect that changes depending on the viewpoint of the viewer.